Manchester’s unique graphene model
Thought leadership 15 October 2024
Why would over 400 companies trust in the ‘Graphene@Manchester Model’?
Well, if you ask them, they’ll say it’s because our industry-led, academic-fed approach offers something that nowhere else does – “we make graphene work for industry”!
So, let me take five minutes of your time to a) persuade you that that’s true, and b) show you how our model can support your company’s ambition.
Industry-led
At the heart of all this is the way we bridge the gap between academia and the real-world needs of businesses, through our continuous pipeline to scale-up. By linking a catalyst facility (more of which below), with our academics’ fundamental research, we’ve created a vibrant system that delivers new technologies and products for industrial applications.
Using world-class facilities, resources, application experts, and commercial know-how, we enable companies to fast-track Technology Readiness Levels – and the dreaded Valley of Death – translating research into product.
And we don’t cut corners as we accelerate and grow, we focus on strategy and quality outputs. We design, develop, scale and ‘de-risk’ – and we do it by the book. We’re directly involved in setting international standards that help to create new and mitigate supply chain risks whilst reducing costly in-house testing.
Lots of people can talk about lab-to-market development, but we’ve actually done it – for new start-ups, entrepreneurs and leading global corporates – honing our approach each time.
All you have to do is read the list of transformative applications that are already, or are just about to, change the way we live. From graphene-enhanced concrete that reduces C02 emissions by up to 30%, to the process the battery-making industry are now using to extract lithium from water.
Some of the world’s bestselling cars, running shoes and smartphones now rely on graphene. The material can improve composite strength and wear resistance, heat management, noise dampening, low material weight, high electrical conductivity and microbial resistance. Take Ford for example, who’ve integrated up to ten graphene components in some of their engines (see more here).
Being 100% industry funded gives us a commercial awareness and industry-first perspective. It means we’re always focused on the solutions that address our partners’ needs, because our success depends on the success of the products, technologies and process we help develop. It’s part of the reason that we work with such an agile, innovative, and fast-paced approach.
Of course, at the heart of all this success is our vibrant innovation community, based in a hub in our city centre. So, let me tell you a bit more about them.
Academic-fed
Manchester’s top minds and industry leaders work side-by-side to turn the extraordinary properties of graphene into the next generation of pioneering applications.
This is the biggest graphene research and innovation community in the world for a reason. More than 350 experts across disciplines have chosen to focus their work here. Covering physics, materials science, chemistry, and neuroscience, and including academics, engineers, application experts, innovation leaders, investment experts, IP advisors, operational and specialist technical staff.
We’re still the place where Nobel prize-winning Professor Sir Andre Geim is based, and Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov regularly visits.
All of our projects can have an academic lead working in collaboration with a project team. It’s the way we ensure our partners have access to the latest research, using the latest equipment. But this knowledge sharing is intensely collaborative – there are no ivory towers in our model – just a team of academic and engineering experts working as one to give our industry partners the commercial edge to succeed.
A tenth of our staff have gone to work with the start-ups we’ve supported over the last 12 months – sharing our knowledge and expertise with the wider sector, building further partnerships, and refreshing new, exciting skills into our team.
We have staff whose spin-out has been backed by a €3 million investment to create a lithium-free energy storage solution. Another whose spin-out developing innovative water filtration technology recently secured a £500,000 investment.
Our people, and their work, plays a critical part in driving the progress and prosperity we need to ensure UK remains a technological superpower.
Where we work
It was tempting to start with our two centres, but I’ve left them as the icing on the cake.
The National Graphene Institute (NGI) is world-leading research centre, advancing what’s possible with graphene and 2D materials. You might already know that.
But did you know that within 1500m² of ISO class 5 and 6 cleanrooms we have the capacity to work with over 150 types of 2D materials? That we have the tools to fuel innovation, from microscopy to optics labs, metrology to chemistry?
These are facilities built for breakthroughs.
And then you have our Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), where we make 2D material innovation happen, bridging the gap between lab to market by providing companies with access to critical equipment, sector expertise and scale-up know how. That might sound a bit too straightforward, so let me put it another way.
At the GEIC we don’t just develop products, technologies and process, we unlock their potential, by empowering companies to push limits, fast-track breakthroughs, and leap from the lab to the market.,,, “making graphene work for industry”!
It’s no accident that both centres are based in Greater Manchester. Here, a university research base, evidence-based local industrial strategy, translational research centres, and a strong start-up/spin-out ecosystem, combine powerfully to truly lead the kind of innovation-driven levelling-up we hear so much about.
Looking to the future
After four years of operations, we’ve built a translational research centre that puts the needs of industry and our economy first, and a model that’s bringing more and more game-changing products to the real world.
Throughout, a bold mission has fuelled our work. To take on climate change, improve healthcare, and push the boundaries of science.
For that, we knew we needed to bring different minds, visions and ideas together, and drive the collaborations that spark disruptive innovation and boosts economies.
To us, 2004 wasn’t so much a discovery, as the start of a movement. It’s one we’re still leading today. Our research and innovation have built an ecosystem here that can power the future. We’ve taken graphene from the lab to the real world – in sustainability, AI, quantum breakthroughs and healthcare – and we’re shaping progress in all of them.
Why have over 400 companies trusted their future with us? Because at Manchester, we’re building it.